plants; and then it trebly repays for attention given it. I differ from other cultivators in this section concerning several varieties; but I imagine the difference lies in the mode of cultivation rather than in the variety. Of the several kinds I have raised for three years, I place, first,

Russell's Prolific, for size, flavor, and number of berries. The one objection is, that the fruit is not borne up from the ground; but a good mulching of pine-straw remedies that defect in part. I have plants now with forty green berries on them of large size, beside many blossoms (Jan. 15).

Triomphe de Gand is an excellent berry, large, and of a singular flavor that

I like. It does not bear as well as the Russell or the Wilson.

Longworth's Prolific is a strong growing plant, berries large and handsome. Hovey's Seedling is an exquisite berry; large, and a most delicious table-fruit. Although other varieties may fail once in a while, this never does. The berries are very even, and always of good flavor; which is much more than can be said of a great many other varieties.

I use Early Scarlet as an impregnator.

The Agriculturist bore a few large berries and a great many small ones, and the plants were nearly entirely destroyed by the hot weather; and the Jucunda ditto.

The Green Prolific is rather late in bearing; but, although a poor bearer, the berries are of delicious flavor.

The Lady-Finger bears its berries from the ground; but I am not favorably impressed with it.

Of several other varieties, French and Stinger's Seedling, Downer's Prolific, and Golden Queen, I wish to try them a little longer before deciding that they are worthless here.

For general cultivation for market, I am sure that the Wilson will pay best; while the Triomphe de Gand or Hovey's would give best satisfaction. Of all varieties, I would choose the three best in order named, Russell's Prolific, Hovey's Seedling, Triomphe de Gand. John Hickson.

MOBILE, ALA.

OUGHT TO BE vs. Is. Much ink-shed has been caused by a few harmless words of ours about the pronunciation of g before e, i, and y, in certain words from the Greek. They were not intended to supplement or contradict the dictionaries. Those who yield implicit obedience to their dictionary need no advice from us outside our line. Words in daily common use are always pronounced according to daily common usage, except by those who take more pains to be odd than it is worth. Those who never sound the x in Bourdeaux always sound the s in Paris when talking English. But it is common among ethnologists to make the c hard in Celt, and professors of surgery sometimes do in hydrocephalus. G is much less restricted to rules than c. The two words gill have, one a hard g, the other a soft. Those who use a hard g in gymnosperm may make a soft one in endogen. Webster gives no absolute rule for g before e, i, and y. Any one to make it soft in words from the Greek (as ch is usually in archbishop, not architect) is more honored in the breach than in the observance. But he who follows his dictionary is safe. We do not commend independence of it. I. F. H.

LILIUM AURATUM. of a grand specimen of Lilium auratum as follows: —

- A correspondent of "The Gardener's Chronicle" writes

"A few days back, I saw in the collection of Mr. Archibald Turner, Bowbridge, Leicester, a specimen of Lilium auratum, which surpasses all preconceived notions of its beauty. This plant was some seven feet in height, and vigorous in proportion; so strong, that the main stem had assumed what botanists call the fasciated form: that is, the flower-stem had spread out flat some two inches wide; and upon this were, at the least, forty flowers. If the plant, which is in fine health, but rather drawn, has sufficient strength to perfect the whole of the buds that have shown, some fifty or sixty will be brought to maturity."

Another correspondent, speaking of another in flower, says,—

“I saw this extremely beautiful lily the other day, and may state that there are six stems from one root, the highest upwards of eight feet. The stems bear nineteen, eighteen, sixteen, eight, nine, and four flowers respectively, making in all seventy-four. The flowers are fully expanded, and some of them measure ten inches across."

GENTIANS. — I have been planting gentians, not without a half-guilty feeling, as if, in so doing, I had robbed them of a part of their beauty; and yet, in removing them to this little city-lot, I have so respected the individuality of each, and preserved their native associations, that I am sure the next autumn will bring me a full pardon.

In the lowest part of the grounds I have scooped out a circular bed, which I have lined with half-decayed sods from the marshes, upon which I have planted a dozen strong roots of the fringed gentian (Gentiana crinita). These I cut in the sods from the wet places where they grow; and, as the season is an unusually dry one, they are not likely to discover that they are being civilized. I have surrounded them with the closed gentian (G. Andrewsii), a very interesting species, which is in flower a long time, and has pure white stripes upon its close-shut petals; next a few plants of the soapwort gentian (G. saponaria), a plant of most dignified habit, and a free bloomer withal; and for the rim of this earthen saucer I have a close-set row of gentiana puberula, my favorite among them all. This is the "prairie gentian," the graceful wand with which summer waves to us her last farewell. The pretty clusters of open intense blue flowers (like some eyes, so blue that they are almost black) are shaded at their base into the russet-purple calyx-leaves, and these, again, into the golden brown of the stemleaves: you shall find a hundred of them among the withered stems of the earlier plants, and each will be a surprise. The fringed gentian is a blue-eyed country girl, innocent and fresh; but her garments are ill-fitting and coarse. In this species, the genus of gentians culminates in harmony throughout, and with all its surroundings. It is now in perfection here (Oct. 21), while G. detonsa with us rarely outlives September.*

G. puberula can be easily propagated from seed, and would be a treasure in any park or pleasure-ground. The lawn of Belle Colline, near this city (which

* Mr. Burgess Truesdell speaks of this (G. detonsa) as the latest species of gentian in the latitude of Elgin, Ill.

the good taste of the owner has left undisturbed by improvements), is carpeted with it. A month ago, the same spot was impurpled with Polygala sanguinea, and nodding heads of purple and white prairie clover (Petalostemom); and I thought how well these two plants were adapted to ornamental purposes, for bedding and massing in sunny situations. Both are easily cultivated. My planting done, I have filled my deep saucer with good peat-earth, and I know the gentians will do their best now that I have done mine. But human nature is never satisfied, and I covet most of all that hardy mountaineer whichbotanists find on the Quitendian Andes. I have a specimen of this (G. russicola) from Dr. Shuts's herbarium, which was gathered on Cotopaxi, at an elevation of twelve thousand feet. The flower is as large as our harebells, on a sturdy little stem just tall enough to keep it from touching the ground; and the plants grow in patches just on the borders of eternal snows, a reward for the explorer. Mr. Ruskin speaks of a traveller, who, visiting the Tyrol in spring, saw a strange mountain in the distance "belted round its breast with a zone of blue." Was it cloud? was it substantial? It did not vanish as they neared it, but expanded into richer breadth and heavenlier glow, until it became a belt of gentians. Is not this a hint for planting, say, in New England? With Gentiana verna to brighten our cool May, and the prairie gentian to touch with tenderness our sad November, the circle of the seasons would be complete. Jeanne C. Carr.

MADISON, WIS,, Oct. 21, 1867.

A PLANT FOR THE MILLION. We do not mean that it is not suited for the choicest of gardens; for it is, perhaps, next to the hollyhock, the most effective plant known for out-door decoration. We mean the Oriental Poppy, with its cousin the Bracted Poppy. They are perennials, and perfectly hardy. The only cultivation they need is to be planted in a good garden-soil, kept free of weeds, and let alone. They do not need to be taken up and divided more than once in five or six years, and they continue to improve every season during the first four or five years. We have seen the flowers six inches in diameter: they are formed like a hemispherical cup, and vary in color from a brilliant scarlet to an equally brilliant crimson. Planted by a clump of red pæonies, they completely outshine them. Sometimes the bottom of the cup is marked with large blotches of an intense glossy black. When the plant has reached its perfection, it will bear twenty of these dazzling flowers at once; and, seen across the garden, it looks like a bonfire. After it is done blooming, the leaves die away; though a slight growth takes place again in September. If plants cannot be had, you may raise it from seed; and it will commonly begin to bloom in the second year. As the roots are long and fleshy, it requires care in transplanting; but, when once established in a warm and sunny place, it is difficult to kill it.

F. P. RIVERS'S SUMMER BEURRÉ D'AREMBERG PEAR. — This is said to be a variety ripening between the earliest sorts, as Doyenné d'Été and Bartlett. It is also described as healthy and vigorous in growth; fruit smooth, melting, sugary, juicy, with delicious flavor. Do any of our readers know aught of it? If so, we should be obliged for information.

ACALYPHA TRICOLOR.

Among stove-shrubs, a very interesting addition to our ornamental-leaved plants was made during the last season by the introduc

tion of Acalypha tricolor from New Caledonia.

It is a remarkably distinct plant, of shrubby habit, producing large ovate acuminate leaves, which are irregularly mottled and blotched with coppery-red and crimson, or sometimes a

good deal suffused with coppery-red, —a color quite distinct from that of any other plant in cultivation, and which contrasts finely with other ornaments of the hothouse. The plant belongs to the Urticaceous order, and is the Caturus hispidus of some botanists. It was obtained by Mr. J. G. Veitch during his visit to the South-sea Islands.

This plant is, as yet, rare; having been only disseminated during the past year. The chances are that it will, like Coleus Verschaffeltii, prove an acquisition for summer-bedding.

SOIL FOR RASPBERRIES. SORTS. The Horticultural Society of Lawrence, Kan., has queried, What is the best soil for raspberry-plantations ?

With the query comes an answer obtained from Mr. Doolittle, who says, "A light, sandy soil that never had a particle of manure, and was so light that it had never been fully sodded over with grass, was selected, and produced the best results." And further he added, that "he would never manure highly nor subsoil for this crop."

Now, what is to be said? The question is already answered by one authority. In its native habitat, the Black-cap Raspberry is often found in light and gravelly and stony soils, on hillsides, and even on cliffs. The red raspberry is found in stony places in mountainous regions; and both these native species are observed to be thrifty, and to bear abundantly in such situations: but they are also found to do still better in heavy and rich soils, on lower and moister grounds.

Under high cultivation, and with heavy manuring, the sands of New Jersey have been made to yield most abundant crops of these fruits; but on poorlyfarmed, and arid, sandy, thin soils, the crops are not found to be remunerative. Therefore our Kansas friends are advised to prepare for the droughts of their region by deep cultivation of their soil, which is rich enough without manure; they are urged to adopt careful and thorough cultivation of their plantations, and, where convenient, to use heavy mulching, even with coarse manure or corn-stalks, in the future years of their raspberry-patches.

With regard to the soil, the recommendations do not accord with those quoted above; but a rather heavy and retentive but mellow and sandy loam would be preferred to sand, unless that was so underlaid by a stratum of water that abundant moisture could be brought up by the capillarity of this material. As to varieties, the following may safely be planted:

Black-caps. For abundant yield and long carriage, for sale.

Purple-cane.

purposes.

For productiveness and richness, for family-use and culinary

Philadelphia. For productiveness and market.

American Red. - For abundance, high flavor, and fine color.

Kirtland. For earliness and abundance; firm enough for a near market. Promising for beauty and flavor.

Clarke.

The foreign varieties and their seedlings are all large, handsome, and delicious; but they are tender, and can only be recommended for amateurs who will give them winter-protection.